Monday Morning Woes
by XxSephFanxX
Summary: Leon discovers the hard way that he and Monday mornings just don't mix. But it's not like anything can get worse from here, right? LeonxCloud. Dedicated to Uncertain!


**Hey everyone! =D **

**I'm so, _so_ sorry I haven't written in a while. I have no real excuse, other than school taking over my life DX **

**Anyway, this isn't one of the fics I've been promising to post since forever, but those are coming along nicely so hopefully I'll get them done soon ^^ This story was actually written a couple days ago.**

**I've strayed from my usual pairing and decided to write a Leon/Cloud instead, just to change things up a bit. I wasn't quite sure how to write Leon's character, but hopefully it worked out okay! **

**Btw, this doesn't take place in Kingdom Hearts, it's supposed to be in FFVII. Just to clear that up. **

**WARNINGS: Leon/Cloud (kinda), OOC, and.... I think that's it.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not, nor have ever, owned Final Fantasy. **

**NOTE TO TOBI: There's a reference to one of your fics in here somewhere, see if you can find it!! =P**

**Dedicated to Uncertain for being awesome! =D**

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Leon sighed irritably, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

His morning just could _not_ get any worse than this.

For what must have been at least an eternity or two, he'd been stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the expressway, and had been able to inch up a grand total of about one foot in the last hour or so. He'd _already_ been running late this morning; his roommate Zack, being the genius that he was, had borrowed Leon's car the night before but had accidentally locked the keys inside, causing a bit of a problem. It was just how Leon loved to start his day; jamming a coat hanger through a tiny crack in his window to unlock the door in below-freezing temperatures first thing in the morning. If it weren't for the fact that he was a friend of Leon's family, Zack would have been promptly kicked out on his rear right then and there. Leon already couldn't stand roommates; but having Zack as a roommate was the absolute _worst_. As soon as he had enough money saved up, he would get his own apartment and be far, far away from Zack. And then once Cloud was able to live off-campus, the he and Leon could be living together.

Leon sighed as he thought about his boyfriend. He'd been meaning to get to work a bit early in order to visit Cloud, seeing as he'd just gotten back from a two-week-long combat seminar. However, it looked like that wasn't going to happen. And later this afternoon, Cloud was being dumped on an island in the middle of nowhere for a training mission of some sort. It was only supposed to be for a week, but Leon had wanted to squeeze in as much time with his beloved as possible before he had to leave again. Because other than Cloud, Leon didn't really have all that much to look forward to during the week.

Leon picked up his travel mug from the cup holder and took a swig of coffee. With a shudder, he quickly set down the mug and shook his head. There was nothing he could think of that was more repulsive than cold coffee. But it was loaded with caffeine, which he desperately needed, and so he reluctantly brought the mug to his lips and took another sip. Bleh.

As time dragged on, Leon found it was increasingly difficult not to rip out his hair in frustration. He should have been at work _hours_ ago. The Director was going to have a cow when he showed up; usually, Leon wasn't exactly the most punctual person in the office.

A wave of exhaustion suddenly came over him, and he fought to keep his eyes open. The radio played softly in the background, and the gentle hum was lulling Leon to sleep. That, and the fact that'd he'd been up since exactly 3:17 AM, after receiving a phone call from a tearful relative that Leon's great-grandfather had passed away in the night. Leon hadn't been very close with Great-Grandpa Ebenezer, but still. He hadn't been able to fall asleep after hearing the depressing news.

He flipped through several other radio stations until he found a death metal station. The heavy guitar riffs and hair-raising vocals that thundered through the car's speakers gave Leon the creeps, and he felt as if a demon was about to burst out of the radio and steal his soul. However, he could think of no other way to keep himself awake. He turned up the volume a few more notches, feeling the heavy double-bass drum rhythm pounding in his head. How could anyone actually _listen_ to this stuff? If Cloud had been in the car with him now, then he wouldn't need to torture himself with such scary music. His blond boyfriend could chatter up a storm like nobody's business, and it was pretty impossible to sleep through. Then again, Leon wouldn't dare try to doze off while Cloud was talking to him.

As Leon looked around at the never-ending lines of cars in front and to each side of him, he noticed that many of them had their parking lights on. He debated doing the same – his foot had really started to cramp up from mashing the brake pedal for the last God-knows-how-many hours. But the last time he'd put his car in park during a highway traffic jam, it had (go figure) ended up stalling. And there was nothing more fun than pushing a broken-down car to the side of the road during a torrential downpour while angry drivers hurled profanities at him as they passed by. Leon decided it would be best not to go through that again. Especially not today.

Leon glanced down at his watch and groaned. Lazard was going to skin him alive when he got there. Or worse, he'd be given to the ShinRa's research lab as a human test subject. His boss was probably fuming – Leon hadn't once called to say he would be arriving late. In his rush this morning, Leon had somehow completely forgotten his cell phone. When he got home later tonight (that is, if the traffic ever got moving) he was sure that he'd find at least a dozen angry, profanity-heavy voicemails from his employer. And boy, was he looking forward to _that._

But wait a minute – he had his laptop with him! He could shoot the Director a quick email explaining the entire mishap. Just as Leon leaned over and was about to unzip his laptop case, he paused. How on earth would there be any Internet access in the middle of the expressway? Miserably, he abandoned that idea and leaned back in his seat, cursing under his breath. It would be a wonder if he still had a job after today.

But when he thought about the whole fiasco this morning, he realized that it wasn't really his fault that seemingly everything had gone wrong. Well, it wouldn't have killed him to remember his cell phone - _that_ was his fault. But it wasn't his fault that his roommate was an idiot, or that the expressway was clogged up beyond belief or that there was no Internet out there so that he could get in touch with his boss and –

Leon closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He just needed to calm the heck down. But as time slowly crawled forward and every minute felt more like an hour, Leon was honestly afraid that he would completely and utterly lose his mind before the morning was over.

He switched the radio station to something a little more uplifting and calming; there was only so much screamo music he could tolerate in a day. He wasn't in danger of falling asleep anymore – he was _much_ too stressed out for that. A couple moments later he found a slow jazz station and lowered the volume a little. Jazz wasn't really his thing, but it would have to make do for now.

But as the minutes ticked by, Leon realized that he just couldn't take it anymore. He had to get out of that car _now! _He didn't mind a few hours of driving, but only when the car was actually moving! He couldn't bear to sit in stand-still traffic for very long at all. He would eventually start to feel claustrophobic, as he did now; the car seemed to be getting smaller, the traffic knitting closer together, the time dragging on for ages…

If he could at least just get out and stretch his legs, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. But the darkening sky wasn't looking too promising; knowing his luck, the second he stepped out of his car would be right when it would begin to rain. Sometimes, Leon felt, it seemed as if Mother Nature were truly out to get him. He decided to stay in the car, unwilling to let the weather try and screw him over. And besides, there were gross-looking puddles all over the road, just waiting for him to step in them. No, thanks. He liked his shoes exactly as they were now - mud-free and not soggy with nasty sludge water.

Now at the end of his very short rope, Leon did the only thing left that he saw fit to do in a situation like this: he prayed. He didn't know to whom or what he was praying to, but hopefully it would work. Leon wasn't a religious man at all, but desperate times called for desperate measures. If, by some miracle, it did work and the traffic was dissolved, Leon would maybe donate a couple of dollars to the church people that came knocking at his door once a month instead of pretending he wasn't home or "accidentally" turning on the lawn sprinklers whenever he saw them coming. Leon Leonhart was not known to be a people person.

Fifteen minutes later, the traffic still hadn't budged. Leon was about ready to lose it – he'd give the man upstairs (or whatever higher power that could free up the expressway) another minute or two to work their magic. Or else, he'd be slamming the door in those church workers' faces and cranking up the lawn sprinklers to full blast for the rest of the year. He needed to be at work, and he needed to be there _now_. Well, actually, he needed to have been there a few hours ago. But he'd take whatever he could get.

Leon halted his desperate thinking for a moment, amazed and disappointed at himself at the same time. All it took was some cold coffee, Internet deprivation and heavy morning traffic and he'd be begging supernatural beings (which he didn't even _believe_ in) to free up the expressway. As far as Leon was concerned, religion was for the weak. He was all for science and logic and all of that fun stuff.

But then, a great miracle occurred. Right before Leon's disbelieving eyes, the cars around him began to inch forward. He took his foot from the brake and let the car roll forward slowly, expecting to slam down on the pedal again. But there was no need to – the traffic began to gradually pick up pace until Leon was cruising along at a decent rate. It seemed as if his prayers had been answered. He almost started sobbing in relief as the lanes sped up and traffic eventually resumed as it normally did.

Leon looked at the time again and nearly jerked the steering wheel. It was nearly ten o'clock – he should have been at work about three _hours_ ago.

Whether it was Leon's fault or not, Lazard was going to be very pissed off indeed.

--------

When Leon pulled into his parking spot outside the building, he didn't know what to expect. Perhaps when he got out of his car, the security would shoot him on sight? He didn't think his boss would be _that_ extreme. But the Director could be surprising sometimes. Not to mention, he could probably have it done, too. Considering he was old man ShinRa's son (although an illegitimate one), there was nothing Lazard couldn't legally get away with - just as long as Father pulled the right strings. Leon _hated _rich people.

As he entered the building, still in one piece, Leon made his way over to the elevator and pressed the button to go up. As he watched the lights flash above the elevator, he found himself unconsciously humming the latest hit single of the singing sensation G. He wasn't much of a pop music fan, but he had to admit that G's songs were pretty catchy.

ShinRa Headquarters was eerily quiet today, he realized. Save for the receptionist at the check-in desk, who promptly ignored him, there was not a single soul on the first floor. What was going on?

Once the elevator reached the first floor, Leon stepped in and waited patiently until he arrived at his own floor. Everything at work seemed a bit off – even the elevator music, he noticed. Instead of the usual blah tunes, there was a variation of a familiar song being played instead. However, Leon didn't feel like wasting any energy trying to figure out what it was.

When Leon exited the elevator, he knew that something was definitely wrong. The floor was completely empty – no one was in their cubicles, at the copier, or even goofing off at the water cooler. Now very suspicious, he made his way over to his desk. Someone had slapped a large Post-It note on the monitor of his computer that read:

"YOU'RE IN **BIG** TROUBLE. COME TO THE BREAK ROOM IMMEDIATELY."

Leon's heart sank. He was getting fired for sure, he could just feel it. That was Lazard's ridiculously neat handwriting on that note. But…why the break room? Maybe the Director wanted to publicly embarrass Leon in front of the entire staff one final time before kicking him out of the company. What a pleasant day this would be.

Preparing for the worst, Leon trudged down the hallway and stopped in front of the break room. He took a deep breath, and then pushed the doors open.

He had not at all been expecting what waited for him inside.

"SURPRISE!"

Leon stood frozen in the doorway, stunned beyond belief. The entire ShinRa staff was crammed into the break room, waiting for him. There were balloons and confetti strewn all over the place, and banners strung from the ceiling.

"Oh, just get in here already!" Yuffie bounded up to him and dragged him across the floor to where everyone else was standing. "Happy Early Birthday!" Then she giggled. "Did you like the music in the elevator? Playing 'Happy Birthday' was my idea."

Leon couldn't speak. He stared at the grinning crowd, then to the banners, then finally at the giant extravagant chocolate cake on the table. Then he remembered that his birthday was, in fact, going to be in a couple days. He'd been so insanely busy for the last couple weeks that he'd forgotten his birthday entirely.

"Don't tell me you didn't remember your own birthday," the Director smirked, as if reading Leon's extremely confused mind. "But only you, Leon, would be late for your own surprise party. And you couldn't even be bothered to answer your phone. Do you know how long we've been waiting for you?"

"I was stuck in traffic," Leon said slowly, still struggling to grasp what exactly was going on. "And I left my phone at home. I'm very sorry."

"It's fine," his boss laughed, patting him on the back. Then he cleared his throat. "We have a present for you. Would you like to open it now?"

"Oh, um, sure," Leon stuttered, surprised. A present for him? He watched as the Director disappeared into the crowd for a moment, then returned with a card and a slim little package and handed it to Leon.

Leon opened the card first. It had colorful, shiny balloons and "Happy Birthday" written on the front, and inside were a slew of signatures crammed together from the entire staff. "Thanks, everyone," he thanked his co-workers, smiling for the first time that day. "I really appreciate it."

"Open the present!" Someone chirped, and Leon proceeded to do just that. He ripped off the wrapping paper to find a little rectangle-shaped box, and removed the lid. Inside was a travel guide, a pair of sunglasses, and two plane tickets. Leon's eyes bulged.

"On time or not, you've been working hard for the last few months, and seeing as it's your birthday and all, we're sending you on a vacation for all of next week. The second ticket is for whomever you wish to bring along," his boss informed the very stunned Leon. "I hope you like the beach." Then he leaned closer to Leon and lowered his voice. "Cloud's mission was delayed until next month, and his classes have already ended for today. You can go visit him if you'd like." Even though Lazard could be absolutely evil sometimes, he was still a good person. Sometimes.

"T-thank you so much!" Leon exclaimed, resisting the urge to scoop up his boss in a hug. The man would probably rip up his plane tickets right then and there.

Before anyone could stop him, Leon dashed out of the break room and sprinted for the Cadet Dormitory wing. He couldn't wait to finally see his lover again and share the exciting news. The two of them had been _dying_ to go on vacation somewhere since forever.

And as Leon bolted down the hall and turned the corner, eager to visit his boyfriend, he realized one very important thing:

Maybe today hadn't turned out to be that bad after all.

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**Thanks so much for reading! =D I hope you enjoyed it.**


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